MAKING A PEACEFUL PLACE FOR MENTAL HEALTH 

A community-led initiative in the Riddiford Arboretum, Broken HiIl.

 

Making a Peaceful Place for Mental Health is a community-led project to activate and enhance the Riddiford Arboretum as a peaceful, accessible place for reflection, connection, and wellbeing.

It uses an existing public green space to support mental health in a non-clinical, inclusive way and has grown out of the Jordan Liberty Project, driven by lived experience and a shared commitment to community wellbeing and suicide prevention.

WHAT DOES ‘A PEACEFUL PLACE’ MEAN?

 A peaceful place can be many things at once. It may be:

  • a place to remember people we have lost
  • a place people can go when they are struggling now
  • a place to walk, sit, or reflect without explanation
  • a place where mental health conversations feel normal

People can use the space in their own way and in their own time.

 

HOW IS THE PROJECT STARTING?

 The project starts small and grows carefully. Initial activities include:
  • Community wellbeing walks and BBQs in the Arboretum (2026 Dates TBC)
  • A simple, temporary community labyrinth as an early focal point
  • Small creative or symbolic activations that encourage reflection and connection
  • A community workshop or forum to identify community needs and priorities

These early steps are about bringing people together and listening, not rushing to a final outcome.

 

COMMUNITY LED AND CO-DESIGNED

 Community input is central. With support from grant funding, a placemaking facilitator will work with community members, young people, mental health services, council, First Nations representatives, artists, and people with lived experience to help shape what the space becomes over time.

If the community wants it to grow, it can grow.

 

SUPPORT AND PARTNERS

 This project is supported through seed funding as part of a grant from Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal’s In a Good Place program.

Community engagement will be ongoing throughout 2026. Early partners already on board include:

  • Broken Hill City Council
  • Royal Flying Doctor Service Wellbeing Place
  • Lifeline Regional SA and Far West NSW
  • West Darling Arts
  • Broken Hill Art Exchange

 

HOW TO GET INVOLVED?

 There are lots of ways to get involved. You may choose to attend a walk, share ideas, volunteer, help creatively, or simply stay informed.

 

ABOUT THE JORDAN LIBERTY PROJECT 

Making a Peaceful Place for Mental Health is one of the community outcomes of the Jordan Liberty Project, a Broken Hill-based youth mental health and storytelling initiative. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO Some aspects of this work may be documented as part of a mental health documentary, with care, consent, and respect

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